


meeting points at 2am

by jinrou



Category: K-pop, SHINee
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Diners, M/M, i can't believe there's a tag for diners
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2017-04-15
Packaged: 2018-10-19 04:12:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10631946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jinrou/pseuds/jinrou
Summary: Jonghyun works the 10PM - 6AM shift on Monday-Tuesdays and Thursday-Fridays at the diner, quiet enough that the manager doesn’t mind if he has a textbook open on the counter as he waits for the bell to jingle.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For the Just Kiss 2017 fest!
> 
> For prompt: 24. good night.

His favourite time is always about 2 AM when the only customers are usually those a bit down on their luck looking for a warm place, or truckies en route to their next destination, the diner only a half hour stop before they’re on their way.

Time always seem to slow once the clock reaches two until the sun restarts it at five-thirty, six, and Jonghyun relishes this time.

It’s a quiet world in the quiet of the night, away from the business and mess that’s university and family. Nothing seems to count in these dark hours -- nothing seem _real_ , everything edged by fluorescent light bulbs or streetlights.

It’s like the world here is a world away from home, and Jonghyun loves that.

 

Jonghyun works the 10 PM - 6 AM shift on Monday-Tuesdays and Thursday-Fridays, going home as the sun wakes up, stifling yawns into his wrist as he starts his car. It’s usually quiet enough that the manager doesn’t mind if he has a textbook open on the counter as he waits for the bell to jingle, plastering a quick smile on.

“Can I have the waffles and sausages?” the man (though Jonghyun secretly thinks he’s more of a _boy_ , sweater way too big and eyes hidden behind big frames) says as he sits at the counter in front of Jonghyun.

“Sure,” Jonghyun says easily and picks up the menu. “Did you want a drink?”

“A coffee, please, just black.”

“No worries, it’ll be out soon.”

 

“Hey, you’re studying lit?” the boy asks as Jonghyun brings out his waffles on the third night he’s here, and Jonghyun blinks, before he remembers the textbook on the counter open to Hermann Hesse.

“Yeah,” Jonghyun says, and arranges the fork and knife onto a napkin. “Don’t tell me you’re at Monash too?”

The boy spears a sausage and bites off the end. “Yeah, I study IT. But my best friend studies lit.”

“Cool,” Jonghyun says, and puts the black coffee on the counter. “I’m Jonghyun, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you,” the boy says politely, and smiles. His eyes crinkle a little, and Jonghyun’s endeared. “I’m Jinki.”

 

Jinki comes in when he gets sexiled from his apartment by his roommate, and Jonghyun starts wondering if his roommate has an insatiable appetite for sex.

“No,” Jinki says, sighing and opening his textbook on database design. “But he and his girlfriend are in a long distance relationship and this is the first time they’ve seen each other for like a year. So they’re making the most of it.”

“I see,” Jonghyun says, and sips at his own coffee. He tries to read his textbook but his eyes blur from tiredness, and he can’t help the yawn that escapes.

“Is that okay?” Jonghyun looks up, and Jinki’s worrying at his lips, eyes fixed on his empty plate, and Jonghyun picks it up.

“Is what okay?” Jonghyun asks, and Jinki’s eyes flicker to the crumbs on the table. Jonghyun will have to get a cloth for those later.

“Me staying here for so long? If it’s not, it’s okay, I’ll go somewhere else. It’s just that I like it here, it’s nice and quiet and warm, and the food is decent, and you’re good company. But if it’s a problem me being here, then please say so. I don’t want you to get in trouble with your boss or anything,” Jinki says in a rush, and Minho’s phone takes that moment to cheer very loudly.

“I don’t think it’s a problem,” Jonghyun says drily. “I mean, you’re still business, and Minho’s watching soccer or something on his phone and I’m studying. So, it’s okay. Really.”

“IT’S NBA!” Minho shouts from his kitchen window. Jonghyun just rolls his eyes.

“Are you sure?” Jinki asks, even as he tries to stop a grin.

“I’m sure,” Jonghyun says firmly.

“I’M SURE TOO!” Minho yells, and then cheers as the crowd cheers again.

 

If Jonghyun were to choose a colour scheme, it’d be sepia.

The walls of the diner are cream that have faded with age, and the wooden counter and the chairs that would’ve once been quaint are now just old.

In a way, Jinki suits it with his messy dark brown hair and worn and faded jeans, his cream hoodie thrown on top carelessly.

“Yoochun’s girlfriend is going back home soon,” Jinki says as he chews on the end of his pen, making some diagram in his notebook.

“Oh,” Jonghyun says, and wipes the counter. “Does that mean you’ll stop coming?”

Jinki hums around his pen, and Jonghyun concentrates on a particularly sticky spot when Jinki looks up.

“Nah, I like it here. It’s peaceful. And doesn’t smell like sex.”

Jonghyun snorts.

“I’m glad.”

 

It usually takes Jinki an hour to finish his waffles and sausage, but he always stays until the sun rises, packing his bag as the morning truckies stroll in, requesting favourites without even looking at the menu.

He always vanishes just as the sun starts to rise, morning sun making the diner seem golden and ethereal.

"Are you sure you're not a vampire?" Jonghyun says.

"How'd you know?" Jinki bites his sausage and wriggles his eyebrows.

"I'm anemic," Jonghyun says, deadbeat. "Also, I feel like you have more coffee than blood running through your veins."

Jinki laughs at that, delighted.

"You're not wrong about that. At this rate, I should become a coffee ambassador. I hope they pay me in coffee.”

 

Jinki pulls him into a kiss sometime between 3AM and 4AM, his hand gentle on Jonghyun's wrist and tasting faintly like coffee.

Jinki kisses slow and sweet like there's all the time in the world, and Jonghyun supposes there is. Time doesn't seem to exist in the diner when, ironically, the clock is the only sound they hear, even MInho's grill turned off with the silence of the last hour.

Jinki has to brace himself on the counter, one elbow dangerously close to his fork, hand gently fisted in the shoulder of Jonghyun's shirt, his own jumper almost brushing the maple syrup on his waffles.

"Careful," Jonghyun whispers against Jinki's lips as he presses Jinki's jumper flat to his chest, and Jinki sucks in a breath but smiles.

Kissing Jinki is like breathing the crisp air of winter coming, or a warm bonfire with friends on a lazy summer's evening. Kissing Jinki is like something fresh and new and welcome, but also a _welcome home_.

"You make me not want to be," Jinki says back, and he's blushing so hard that Jonghyun just presses another kiss to his lips.

 

Jinki only seems to exist in the context of the diner -- even on campus when Jonghyun runs into Minho or Kibum, the other counter staff who does the midnight shifts, Jonghyun never sees Jinki.

"Sometimes I wonder if you're real," Jonghyun says as he scribbles on his notes, the first line of a song he'd been playing with. "I never see you anywhere but here."

Jinki hums around his coffee, waffles already finished beside him.

"Is any of this really real? Are _we_ real? Is _anything_ \--"

"No existentialism at 3AM!" Minho shouts from the back door where he'd been juggling a soccer ball, and Jinki and Jonghyun trade a look before they burst into laughter.

 

It's 5:50 AM, which means wiping the counters before the morning girls come in, and making sure all the booths have napkins and clean forks and knives.

It'd been a quiet shift, only four truck drivers coming in and quietly finishing meals before leaving, Jinki's absence a too-noticeable hole. Jonghyun tries not to think about it -- maybe he's just busy, maybe he's studying for an exam he has, maybe he'd gone home for the weekend -- but he's a chronic worrier, so every time the little door bell had rung, he'd bolted up, heart in his throat, before it'd drop to his stomach.

"Bye Jonghyun," Minho says as Jaejoong comes in, trading lazy high fives. "See you Monday."

"See you," Jonghyun says, passing the keys over to Tiffany when she comes in.

"Hey. Good shift?" she says, like every other time, and Jonghyun squashes a feeling he doesn't want to identify.

"Quiet," he says, and she laughs.

"Graveyard shifts always are, aren't they? Anyway, see you Tuesday morning!"

Jonghyun methodically hangs his apron up and runs a hand through his hair, wincing at the grease. He'll get home and probably sleep in until noon at least, before having to tackle his essay on _Feminism in Macbeth_ due Monday. He'll need to stop by a petrol station to top up too, and probably drop off some books at the library if he doesn't want to get a fine--

"Hey," a very familiar voice says, and this time when he looks up, his heart doesn't sink back down to his stomach. It just hovers somewhere in his chest, warm and happy.

"Hey," Jonghyun says back, and Jinki's obviously exhausted, bags clear under his eyes and a cap pulled over his too-long hair, but his smile is as brilliant as always.

"Sorry I couldn't come in today," Jinki says, and his smile twists into something rueful. "My car broke down so I had to walk."

Jonghyun blinks before his mouth starts running away from him.

"Your car-- _what_? You _walked_? From _campus_? Are you _crazy_? You walked from _campus_?" Jonghyun mentally tries to calculate it -- it's a half hour ride along the highway, which means probably about 40kms, maybe 30? "Are you okay? It's, like, what half hour drive which makes it like--"

"I broke down maybe halfway," Jinki says, and he's laughing, and Jonghyun steps closer, fisting a hand in Jinki's jumper which is kinda sweaty and _very_ warm. "I meant to get here an hour ago but I got a bit, uh, distracted. By the stars. And I had to wait for my car to be towed anyway."

"By the stars," Jonghyun repeats numbly, and he still can't believe Jinki is here, at 6:12 AM, and they're standing outside the diner just staring at each other. Jinki in daylight.

"They're really pretty on the highway! You can see the Milky Way! Anyway, I meant to get here earlier to tell you I wouldn't be coming for a while because I don't have a car anymore but yeah, I got distracted, so I'm kind of happy that I managed to catch you just before you went home because _that'd_ be awkward, I mean, who even works in the morning? Minho's already gone home right? I think I saw his car leaving and--"

Jonghyun's brain is still trying to catch up to Jinki ( _by the stars_ ) before his ears realises Jinki's babbling, eyes a bit wide and worried, and Jonghyun gently presses a hand to Jinki's mouth, biting back a grin.

"It's okay," Jonghyun says, and Jinki's face relaxes. He can feel the smile against his palm. "I'm glad you made it."

"Me too," Jinki says against Jonghyun's palm. "And I kind of don't have a car now."

"Lucky I have one," Jonghyun says as he gently wipes Jinki's spit on his jumper. "Would you like me to drive you home?"

"Please," Jinki says, and Jonghyun thinks he could fall in love with that abashed smile forever. "If you don't mind."

"I'd love to. Every day if you want."

Jinki's smile just grows bigger.

"I'd love that."

 

("You guys are so CUTE," Tiffany says on Tuesday morning when Jonghyun hangs up his apron and laces his fingers with Jinki's to leave.

"It's way too early for this." Jaejoong yawns as he pours another coffee. "Stop being cute, I'm going to throw up."

"That's for customers," Jessica hisses and steals away the coffee pot. "Make your own coffee. Or pay."

"I'd _pay_ if this was _decent_ coffee," Jaejoong says loudly, and Jinki stifles a giggle. "But _noooo_ \--"

"Come on," Jonghyun whispers to Jinki as he takes his car key out of his pocket. "Let's go home."

"Home?" Jinki quirks an eyebrow and Jonghyun hates that he loves that. That that word still makes a quiet warmth bloom in his chest.

"Home.")

**Author's Note:**

> title comes from the song of the same name by dné (thank you to reeza for introducing them to me!) this was also inspired by [these](http://seriosity.tumblr.com/post/152311984025) lovely gifs of narimiya hiroki.


End file.
